My wife and I never tire of visiting St Petersburg. Russia’s pre-revolutionary capital has all the ingredients to make history come alive, with its splendid churches and cathedrals, its stunning palaces and the many wonders of the Hermitage Museum.
As you walk in the footsteps of the tsars, and the artists, writers and musicians whose rich legacy can be found all over the city, there is so much to explore in Russia’s window to the west, including the Winter Palace, St Isaac’s Cathedral, and Nevsky Prospekt. Not to mention the city’s rich culinary heritage.
For a memorable Russian meal in historic surroundings, the restaurant Russian Ampir in Stroganoff Palace, one of the city’s oldest palaces, located just around the corner from the Winter Palace is second to none.
The Beef filet Stroganoff, prepared according to an original Stroganoff family recipe, is to die for, and the secret tour of the hidden rooms and vaults offered at the end of the meal is not to be missed – it’s a real step back into Russia’s imperial past.
This is a light and smooth Bordeaux red wine from one of the lesser-known châteaux of the Right Bank. Predominantly a Merlot blend, it has distinctive flavours of blackcurrant, black cherry and plum, with spicy overtones and medium tannins. It’s a fruity, straightforward wine that goes well with cheese or cold meats, roast beef, and meaty casseroles. It’s very good value.
Château Franc Baudron 2014 Montagne St Emilion
2014 was generally a very good vintage in Bordeaux and this is a good example of a pleasing wine with bright, ripe fruit, good colour and a smooth, lingering finish. Aromas of blackberry, blueberry and plum, with overtones of smoke and mushroom, and on the palate, additional flavours of liquorice and spice. This is a wine with body and complex flavours and would pair perfectly with roast duck or lamb.
Château La Chapelle Despagnet 2015 St. Emilion Grand Cru
2015 was another good vintage for Bordeaux wines and this is a little gem. A full-bodied wine with medium tannins and flavours of ripe plums, blackberry and blueberry with overtones of leather, spice, vanilla and cloves. A very good finish and a fine example of Saint Emilion at its best. This a wine crying out for a nice piece of beef or lamb to go with it. A lovely treat at a very reasonable price for a wine of this quality.
I was initially a little sceptical when I first came across this wine in New Zealand earlier this year. My wife and I were on holiday when we spotted it on a supermarket shelf in Auckland and though we enjoy the Graham Norton Show, we doubted his skills extended to wine-making … But we took a punt and were pleasantly surprised – it turned out to be surprisingly good. Very good in fact. Crisp, zesty and refreshing, with tropical fruit flavours of passion fruit and kiwi. Delighted to see that it is now currently available at Asda, and so immediately rushed out to get a few bottles. It goes really well with pan-fried salmon!
Cannonball Chardonnay 2017
This Californian Chardonnay from Sonoma Valley is a very good wine. A refreshing, full-bodied wine with medium acidity, with flavours of apple pie, peach and nectarine, and secondary flavours of butter and vanilla. A very well-balanced wine – fine to drink by itself and goes very well with fish/seafood dishes.
Pinot Grigio delle Venezie 2018 Sartori
A simple but perfectly agreeable wine from Italy’s Veneto region, this Pinot Grigio has a subtle refreshing flavour of apples, lemons and pears, with overtones of melon. It’s perfectly fine as an aperitif, but also goes well with pasta dishes with light sauces, as well as chicken or fish dishes.
Autumn-Leaf Fields, Nightingale Valley, Five Acres, Highfield Stables, Wild Duck’s Nest – perhaps not quite the typical image that springs to mind when we think of Tokyo. But these are just a few of the stations on the most heavily used train line of this huge metropolis – the Yamanote Line.
The quaint names hark back to a more sedate time when Tokyo – Edo as it was then – was the political centre of a largely agrarian nation, quite different from the hustle and bustle of the modern city it is now.
And Shinkuku Station at 8 o’clock on a weekday morning is when this hustle and bustle is at its peak. This is rush hour: when children in their school uniforms, middle managers in almost identical dark suits, white shirts and boring ties, smartly dressed office ladies in the latest fashions, and occasionally, a kimono-clad grandmother, all arrive en masse to catch their train.
The scene on platforms 12 and 13, where the Yamanote Line trains come and go, is almost surreal. Here, orderly lines, four abreast, gather in front of the marks on the platform which indicate where the train doors will be as an army of East Japan Railway Company employees, clad in their customary white gloves, prepares to pack as many arms and legs as possible into the approaching trains.
More than 3.5 million people scurry through this busy station every day, and during the morning and evening rush hours, an 11-car Yamanote Line train carrying about 3000 people, pulls in every 90 seconds or so. This circular route around Tokyo is busy all day long, from the first train out at 4.40am to the last run just after 1.00am. With some 670 trains making a 60-minute lap of the Yamanote circuit every day, this is undoubtedly one of the busiest lines in the world.
The line connects the various hub stations of metropolitan Tokyo as well as the major downtown residential, commercial and entertainment districts through the 29 stations along its tracks. Shinjuku Station is a major hub for trains coming from the west of Tokyo and from the adjoining prefecture of Saitama, and the area around the station is popular for shopping and entertainment. The dizzying array of shopping malls, office blocks, bars, pubs and noodle shops are a far cry from the district’s origins as a refuge for foot-weary samurai in feudal times when Shinjuku housed many inns and taverns for them to stay.
Tokyo Station is another of the city’s largest stations and the departure point for the bullet trains heading to north and west Japan. Many regional lines also leave from Tokyo Station and rush hour here is not for the faint-hearted!
And then there is Akihabara. Now Akihabara Station – Autumn Leaf Fields – is a real misnomer if ever there was one. Perhaps it was once a quiet and peaceful rural area but nowadays it is more famous for its Electric Town than its trees. Residents and visitors alike flock to Akihabara to check out the latest bargains in the many discount electronic shops based here and whether it’s the latest digital camera, computer, I-pad or whatever, if it ain’t available in Akihabara, it ain’t available anywhere.
A few stops down the line is Ueno – Upper Field – and here there really are still plenty of trees! Ueno Park is one of the most popular places in Tokyo to view the cherry blossom in the spring. Mind you, this being Tokyo, crowds are never far away and when the cherry trees are in bloom, up to a quarter of a million visitors descend on the park every day. The park is huge; it is one of the city’s largest, with two national museums, a zoo and a concert hall within its grounds. So, despite the crowds, there is usually enough room for everyone!
The Yamanote Line isTokyo, and although it’s often impossible to get a seat, the city simply couldn’t function without it. It is the easiest way to get around the city, and with trains running so frequently, waiting time is minimal. Stations names are in English and Japanese so overseas visitors shouldn’t be put off using it, and even the largest stations are relatively straightforward to use.
As is customary in Japan, the conductor announces the name of the next station as the train approaches it. This is much appreciated when you are sharing the tiniest of spaces with half of the city, you can hardly see out of the window – let alone get a glimpse of the station names – and you can’t quite remember whether Shibuya Station is two or three stops from Shinjuku!
